72 comments:

I will tell you! Stay tuned. Nominations end January 11, so it will be after that.

If I recall from last year, every blog nominated in each category is listed and there is a round of voting. You can vote once every day. The top 5 vote-getting blogs move to Round 2 and there is another period of voting.

Laura's blog is also in 2 or 3 categories, so everyone will be busy!

Jere served as my "campaign manager" last time. Hopefully, he will come back on board!

"Jere served as my "campaign manager" last time. Hopefully, he will come back on board!"

Haha. I'm still drained from last year. But I think I should be able to regroup. That was one of the most incredible nights in internet history. I remember being all into it for the days leading up to the final day, then having been away that day. And I got to a computer afterwards and followed the action, as that other blog closed the gap in an amazing run in the eleventh hour, but JoS staved them off in the final minutes.

Thank you, Redsock, for not getting into that OTHER election here on the "Joy of Sox". Being a sports fan following a sports blog is one of the few places a person can go these days without being barraged by the acrimony, divisiveness and outright hopelessness of today's political climate.

Thank you for recognizing this some time ago and creating other blogs to delve into your political musings.

It is because of this that we can all come here and appreciate your prolific excellence at presenting facts and analysis without being bogged down by differences in other areas.

Your blog is, in my opinion, the absolute BEST source for Red Sox news, information, analysis and pure passion for our Boston Red Sox available on the internet. Period.

Thank you, Redsock, for not getting into that OTHER election here on the "Joy of Sox". ... Thank you for recognizing this some time ago and creating other blogs to delve into your political musings.

Mugro, I remember how you feel. I guess my recent links making fun of Rudy the Fascist didn't bother you, though.

Anyway, there will always be the risk of seeing something political in this space in the future. Whether you read it or click on to your next website is up to you (and every other reader). Likewise, while me bashing the media yet again for MUMS is Sox-related, if you are sick of my rants or disagree with them, you don't have to read those either.

The reason I will not comment on the US election is not because it causes any acrimony or divisiveness. I do not comment on it because I see it as a charade, an obscene perversion of a good cop/bad cop routine by one group that is both above-the-law and committed to working together for its mutual benefit.

I refuse to grant it even the smallest amount of legitimacy. It deserves none. Its results have a much greater impact on the world than the latest celebrity gossip, but as events worthy of my attention, I regard them both as drivel.

1. I will say that while the risk of political commentary/links exists, it is a low risk.

1A. Do you (or anyone else) have a problem with the political links I have down the right-hand side of the page or are they low enough to be completely avoided (or did you even know they were there)? I'm curious.

2. Thanks for the kind words about JoS. I have an ongoing feeling that the quality of the blog has slipped (reading some stuff from late October 2004 this past weekend did not help any), but it is what it is. Or will be.

3. I'm assuming that off-topic stuff like the music links or some personal crap (but not hot button issues like politics and religion) are fine.

"oh god, this is as bad as when public radio does marathons trying to raise money.

shameless"

But he's not asking for your money. So how is it AS bad?

And wait, public radio asking for your money for like one day a year ISN'T "bad." It's how the last bastion of sanity on the dial stays in operation. The alternative is commercial stations, for example, WEEI, where you can listen for 15 minutes and hear 3 minutes of "sports talk" (if you count two dudes and a caller laughing at an inside joke) and 12 minutes of ads.

No slip! No slip! It's great, and feels more like a community during the season with the whole game-thread thing.

Also, I remembered Mungro's old comment before you even put up the link. I decided not to go back and relive it, but I'd like to say that Mungro doesn't speak for the people. I mean, you gotta figure at least half the people that read this site are against the war, and therefore will be happy to read any political stuff you put up here. And anyone who totally disagrees with what you put up can easily skip it, or realize that they're getting intelligent commentary and can discuss it if they choose.

What's this "bogged down" crap? I don't like the Rolling Stones but I wasn't sitting there the other day trudging my mouse along, struggling desperately to get it through the mud down to more sports posts. I just fucking skipped over it. What's the problem?

No slip! No slip! It's great, and feels more like a community during the season with the whole game-thread thing.

It's just my feeling as a writer. (Or could it be the dreaded "good old days" syndrome???) I'm sure that back in October 2004 I was wishing the blog was better like it was in October 2003.

Winning has made me less obsessive about every game, as I have said before. When I go back to 2003 and see the volumes of stuff I used to write about Gump's nightly fuckups (in the early blog posts and when I was still doing the Pedro site), I'm surprised. My entire mindset with the Sox and baseball has been changed and that's one reason why I think the intensity of the posts has waned.

I guess my earlier comments made an impact on you that you would remember them. Unfortunately, I would say.

I don't want to be known here as "the guy that doesn't like to talk politics". I want to be known as a fellow fan that really does appreciate what you do here. I really do appreciate what you do here, for I can see the devotion and the time that you put into it.

So, I will respond to your comment and then hopefully leave this subject for good in favor of talking about more important stuff (like the Red Sox).

As I stated before, this is YOUR blog and you are entitled to do with it what you wish. None of us should ever forget that.

That being said, seeing political posts here is like going to see a classic movie at a movie theater and having the best part of the movie interrupted with ads. It's like watching Field of Dreams or the Natural and seeing Erik Estrada interrupting it trying to sell me swamp land in Arkansas or something. Not that YOU are Erik Estrada, redsock! But it kind of ruins the mood, ya know?

That being said, I see your links on the side of the blog and I just choose not to follow them. That doesn't bother me.

I am interested in your links to the Stones, btw, too, as I am a big music fan.

In fact, there is an internet radio station that I am totally in love with that has many active forum threads, and I have come to see that as a place that I don't want to see or talk about politics. I go to that site to talk about and listen to music. To be entertained. I find it a drag to be confronted with politics everywhere I go these days, even places that I would hope to be politics free.

So, keep up the great work here, and don't mind me.

BTW, I don't see a drop off in quality of your posting here. For those of us that have followed you and your blog for some time (I started coming to your blog sometime during that amazing 2004 season, I think), we see in you and in ourselves a sort of metamorphasis. My attitude as a Red Sox fan has COMPLETELY changed from 2003 to 2007. Yours has too, and it shows in your posts. This is not a bad thing.

Your posts may not be as prolific, but I see this as a sign that you know more about the team than you did then and you have less angst about it than you did then. Me too. Thanks in part to you.

I look forward to another great season watching the games and reading The Joy Of Sox. In the meantime, I will be sure to vote!

I find it a drag to be confronted with politics everywhere I go these days, even places that I would hope to be politics free.

I understand where you are coming from. It was that feeling that led me to split up the blog topics when I did. I still think it was the right idea.

we see in you and in ourselves a sort of metamorphasis. My attitude as a Red Sox fan has COMPLETELY changed from 2003 to 2007. Yours has too, and it shows in your posts. This is not a bad thing.

Nope, it's not. It's all part of the journey. Our fandom is changing all the time and not only because we get older. And it doesn't have to be about winning a title either. The Sox were still in the drought in 2001, but being able to watch Pedro pitch for several years changed me as a fan.

Your posts may not be as prolific

I meant not so much prolific, but obsessive. Like bitching for paragraphs about a single pitching change and getting split stats to show what a moron Gump was.

I don't really do that any more. That's probably better for my health.

So tomorrow is your anniversary, as I recall you mentioning---of meeting? or some other event?

January 2, 1987 - Laura flies from Newark, NJ to Burlington, VT in a huge blizzard (the VT airport closed the moment the wheels hit the runway) so that on the next morning (January 3!) she can be with Allan as he moves all his stuff in a U-Haul from Burlington, VT to Brooklyn, NY.

(The snow was so bad, it took over an hour and a tow truck to get out of my driveway.)

I have been married for far more than half my life. I have been married now for more than 31 years. If I counted from when we moved in together, it would add another year. So...I have been married for most of my life. And to a Yankee fan! Gotta get some kudos for that!!

Some of my greatest days on the internet have been on this site when we don't talk about the Red Sox....We all know we love the Red Sox but to see how different we can be on subjects of race , war and politics.I think is fun and has helped me to think differently on array of subjects....

The only thing ,and i have stated this before, is I believe some of the spontanetity is gone with out allowing the anonymous comments....

I can honestly say I care about people I have never seen and will most likely never meet , by just having simple and sometimes complex conversations about things that don't have anything to do with the Red Sox.......

My 2 Cents - I too have really enjoyed getting in a little off-baseball conversation now & then, always knowing that if anything exciting happened in baseball, be it the game that's on or breaking news, that would jump back front & center.I'll be casting my vote, as surely as I always sign up as a day-sponsor for our local NPR station, even tho we don't have extra cash lying around here. I listen almost every day, sometimes for hours at a time, and feel I HAVE to pitch in something to help. I feel the same here - I get too much use out of this site not to make a little effort in return!Let us know how & when.. and Good luck!!

Other random thoughts -Amy - Hope your trip was great!We went on a cruise 2 weeks ago - St. Thomas & Nassau. It was fantastic! On NPR - did you guys hear Bob Edwards this past weekend? Spent the whole 2nd half of the show with Chuck Leavell. To hear Chuck disect "Jessica", describe the evolution of the song.... breathtaking. Then describing the moment when he got the call from the Stones - great stuff! And FREE!On the upcoming election - Will you be campaigning in Saskatchewan or will you skip that for the all-important Vancouver kickasses (did I say that right?) the next week?:)See ya

Yeah, but you were able to be like Obi-wan and convinced her to leave the "dark side".

NO ONE CONVINCED ME TO DO ANYTHING!!!!

Allan had far too much respect for me - and way too much common sense - to ever attempt to do such a thing. Had he ever tried, it would have only dug me deeper into Yankeeland, if such a thing were possible.

Because of living with Allan, I was constantly exposed to the Sox, but the change of heart was all down to me, the Yankees and the Red Sox themselves.

Some of my greatest days on the internet have been on this site when we don't talk about the Red Sox....

I can honestly say I care about people I have never seen and will most likely never meet , by just having simple and sometimes complex conversations about things that don't have anything to do with the Red Sox.......

I had to chuckle at this comment, Laura. Anyone who reads JOS or WMTC knows that you have your own mind and are no pushover!! :))

Yes, I love your conversion story, Laura, and once thought about showing it to Harvey, but like Allan, I know better than to try to "convince" someone to change a loyalty or deep feeling they hold dear.

"seeing political posts here is like going to see a classic movie at a movie theater and having the best part of the movie interrupted with ads."

It's not at all. At the movie, you'd have to sit through the ads. Here, you can very easily skip right over any post you don't want to read.

"It's like watching Field of Dreams or the Natural and seeing Erik Estrada interrupting it trying to sell me swamp land in Arkansas"

Funny thing is, I LOVE those Erik Estrada spots. I can't stop watching when I see them for some reason. Maybe it's Erik's voice and hand motions, maybe it's the fun of making fun of the "real" people who live there. The more I watch, the more I feel myself wanting to buy the swampland. "It's--it's just such a great deal. I'd be stupid NOT to buy." Remember "Palm Coast"? That was the first one. Now he's moved on to Arkansas--Hot Springs Village. Maybe what I like the most is hearing someone make such a passionate pitch for a bunch of land that was cleared aside for Wal-Mart employees. You know it can't be that fun and exciting, but Estrada's gonna do everything he can to believe that it is.

"I know better than to try to "convince" someone to change a loyalty or deep feeling they hold dear."

You've all got it down. And you're lucky: The people around me--girlfriend, dad--keep saying to me "be a Patriots fan, you gotta love the Pats, come on!" And I'm like, "But I don't wanna be a Patriot!" I even got a Patriots gift for Xmas from my aunt. Sorry, still not biting....

Check this out. The pic says "Boston Pilgrims." The people in that thread couldn't figure out if Sox players are involved here. Probably not, since they were called the Red Sox by 1912, and according to Bill Nowlin's research, they were never called the Pilgrims anyway. But then who the hell would these people be?

Jere, I can only imagine the reaction I would get if I gave Harvey a Red Sox hat as a gift. In fact, I do the opposite---I have purchased much NYYankee stuff over the years for him, and he has given me lots of Red Sox gear as well. After the 2004 WS, he even tried to procure copies of tickets to the last game on ebay for me (the seller somehow never delivered, but it was the thought that mattered).

But I am not so sure about being envoys to the Middle East, Laura. We still have some pretty raw moments when the Sox play the Yankees!!

1912 seems pretty late for a non-Red Sox name, but team names were not as carved in stone back then.

A lot of the guys in the front row look too old to be ballplayers. I'm sure some SABR guys can ID any players if they are in the picture.

There was an alligator farm near/across the street from the Sox training field in Hot Springs. I mention it a few times in my book. Ruth hit a few HRs beyond the field and into the 'gator pens. He even bought an alligator as a pet that he had with him for awhile (can't recall if that was in 1918, though).

SoSock, our trip was wonderful. The weather was gorgeous and the food delicious. Mostly we sat on the beach and swam and read. I went through about five books in a week, including Allan's book on the 1918 season, which I am about halfway through and really enjoying! Nothing like conjuring up images of Babe Ruth hitting, pitching and fielding to help get through the off season....

L-girl- that is how the force works though. See in my mind I see you reading about the yankees and redsock standing behind you going "that's not the team you want to root for" in a obi-wan like voice!!! :)

I'm Yoda, remember?

Right I forgot!!

S1c knows me pretty well (internet-wise) and he lives with some strong women, too. Maybe he was setting me up and I fell right into it??

Yep

Hot springs

Don't be knocking my home state people, as for Wal-mart, Sam was one of the nicest people I ever met and was a down to earth guy who knew everyone at the company picnics.

Was just listening to NPR today and heard this thing about how the "box stores" get all the sales tax instead of the government, so when one of these stores comes to your town (besides just the general risk of smaller businesses dying), all the tax money that would've gone back into the town (had you shopped at the little store) just goes straight to the huge store. Ridiculous. I'm sure some of you already knew this. Another reason never to set foot in WalMart, whether ol' Sam lets you win at the three-legged race or not.

Wait, so is this the part where Mugro gets bogged down? I'm sorry man, just push your mouse reeeeally hard--you'll get past this comment :)

Jere said... Was just listening to NPR today and heard this thing about how the "box stores" get all the sales tax instead of the government,

Jere, I am not sure that is 100% accurate.....Granted they take subsidies on land and property tax.....But keep the sales tax? They collect that money which is the consumers and then give it to the gov't.....

I am not saying you shouldn't support the moms and pops of the world , I am just saying I don't believe that is accurate.....

Wow, we're covering a lot in this one!Jere - I know the Boston PILGRIMS lost the 1st "modern" World Series game in 1903. It was played at Huntingon Ave. Grounds. Cy Young was the loser of that game, although the Pilgrims won the series over heavily-favored Pittsburgh. It took over 2 weeks to play the 8 games (best of 9 series!) By 1905 they were referred to as the Red Sox. I'm not sure about 1904. Perhaps the shot is of some former players on an outing. They do look a little long-in-the-tooth. Or possibly a civic group that goes by the Pilgrims name showing their home-town loyalty with the banners.Also - Heard the piece about corporate welfare that included the expose on big box stores. Great Stuff! I'll be looking for the book this weekend. It's called "Free Lunch" by David Cay Johnston Lastly - HOT DAMN, this is fun. How could it not win the award again? Can't wait for pitchers and catchers to report!

But keep the sales tax? They collect that money which is the consumers and then give it to the gov't.....

Actually that is what they do - in some instances. It has become a bargaining chip of the corporate entity, when asking for the subsidies, to present the option of letting the business keep the sales tax they collect until the amount of the subsidy is reached, as opposed to the local government coming up with the cash up-front.Gee, what friends of the community they are.And did you keep listening to catch the bit on W's income from tax subsidies when he was involved with the Rangers? Government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich - at it's richest.

Hi. So, that's what the dude said. When the big boy comes to the town, there's some kind of deal worked out where instead of the tax going to the gov't, it goes right back to the store itself. That's the deal they make with the town, with the threat of, If you don't want to do it, we'll go to the next town and they'll get all the visitors. I guess the bargain--the "free lunch" (hey, that was it, a guy who wrote a book called Free Lunch)--is that the town gets people actually coming to their town, since they've got the WalMart or whatever. To which, the dude said, "But people can just shop from their catalogue or online...."

Look, NPR just injected my ass with the story, I didn't know what was in there.

Sosock--When was your book from? I think this is what Nowlin was talking about, that some history books started calling the '03 Boston team the Pilgrims. And his point was that nobody ever really called them that in that year, meaning it was definitely never an "official" nickname.

I think it's cool that within a few hours of me doing a post about this, Nowlin himself commented defending his claim!

Jere, I would love to help you out, but I have absolutely no recollection of Yaz doing that, nor do I remember any of the other details of that game, other than fearing for my life sitting with a rowdy Yankee fan in the Fenway bleachers. My guess is that we would have gone on a Saturday, but I can't be positive even of that. Too bad we didn't have electronic calendars back then because then I could search back and see! To be honest, I don't even recall who WON that game. I have a strong sense that the Sox did, but I would have to find the records from 77 to do that. I am sure that you or Allan can tell me that from memory!

I answered here as well as at WMTC so that we can move the baseball talk back over here!

Thanks, Allan, for the links to those games. As I said, my sense was that the Sox won the game we went to (I probably remember that because I was in a GOOD mood; Harvey always took losing better than I did, still does). But given those scores, that would have been true for any of those games! Wow, what a three game series of blowouts...

Still, I am pretty sure we would have gone on a Saturday, and I still have no recollection of Yaz hitting a landmark homerun.

L-girl- that is how the force works though. See in my mind I see you reading about the yankees and redsock standing behind you going "that's not the team you want to root for" in a obi-wan like voice!!! :)

I don't know who those people in your mind are, but they sure as hell ain't Redsock and L-girl! :)

Maybe he was setting me up and I fell right into it??

Yep

Figures! I fall for it every time.

as for Wal-mart, Sam was one of the nicest people I ever met and was a down to earth guy who knew everyone at the company picnics.

Awww, how sweet. I'm sure all the employees who work for sub-living wages, can't afford health care, work unpaid overtime and need 2nd jobs to feed their families feel much better knowing the founder of the company was a down to earth guy who went to picnics!

****

I have purchased much NYYankee stuff over the years for him, and he has given me lots of Red Sox gear as well.

We have always done the same. Although mostly it goes in one direction, because Allan buys everything he wants as soon as he wants it. I rarely buy myself anything, so Allan has more opportunities. But he always used to buy me Yankee-related gifts.